Travis Kelce Pours Gas on AE’s Meme Stock Fire… Here’s Why September 3rd Could Be the Ice Bath

Rumor has it there’s about to be a big fat “Blank Space” where American Eagle’s earnings should be, so management did what any panicked mall brand would do… they called in Travis freaking Kelce. And honestly, who can blame them? When you’ve been bleeding sales for three straight quarters and analysts are circling like vultures, you don’t wait for denim to suddenly become cool again… you hand the NFL’s most eligible fiance a varsity jacket and pray the Swiftie economy bails you out. (Yes, the Swiftie economy is real. As I like to say: Beyonce makes traffic bad… but Taylor Swift moves bond markets.)

Now, before we dive into the theatrics, let’s talk stock. AE’s chart has been on more rollercoasters than that one Facebook family that somehow goes to Disney ten times a year (and, no, they don’t even have kids). Back in May, shares were hanging around $12.55 heading into earnings, but then AE yanked its guidance, posted a loss fatter than expected, and the stock promptly faceplanted below $11. Here we are a couple months later, and the only thing dragging it back up to $13 (counting today’s 9% Kelce spike) hasn’t been stronger earnings or teenagers buying more bootcut jeans. It’s been straight up manufactured drama.

Exhibit A: Sydney Sweeney’s “good jeans/genes” ad. Critics called it tone-deaf, Trump labeled it the “HOTTEST ad out there” on Truth Social, and Twitter/X probably broke records with retweets using Sydney Sweeney’s name as a patriotic symbol. Naturally, this caused the stock to rip 18% in August.

But unless you’re a moron, you knew the Sweeney bump wasn’t built to last. Bank of America’s Christopher Nardone all but said the same thing when downgraded it to underperform and chopping the price target to $10… a projected 21% downside. Of course, this all has to do with Trump’s favorite T word (other than his name): Tariffs. AE and Aerie don’t have the muscle to push higher costs onto customers. Raise jean prices by ten bucks and your target market just hits Old Navy instead.

That leaves AE boxed in. If they cut promos, traffic collapses. If they keep promos, margins evaporate. Classic lose-lose. And the one bright spot (Aerie) is slowing down. Intimates and swim are soft, growth is sputtering, and analysts warn store expansions may stall unless Jerome gets real aggressive with the Fed money printer. Essentially, the “growth engine” is coughing up smoke.

(Source: CNBC)

So that’s why this Kelce collab smells like a marketing fire drill. Yes, Kelce actually had a hand in the designs, and yes, announcing it one day after he proposed to Taylor Swift was divine PR timing. But eventually AE’s gonna run out of influencers to pump their stock (via marketing campaigns). Just look at the Swift effect. Signet Jewelers spiked because people Googled the size of her engagement ring (people are crazy). Then came the onslaught of companies playing copycat (you’re not slick Domino’s).

Unfortunately, hype doesn’t pay tariffs, hype doesn’t fix margins, and hype doesn’t give you pricing power when your customers are choosing between rent and jeans.

The real truth will come out when AE reports on September 3, and don’t be surprised if the storyline flips from “Kelce saves denim” to “tariffs torch margins, Aerie slows to a crawl, and EPS goes missing.” If you’re here just riding the hype as a meme stock, fine… send Travis a thank-you card and enjoy the chaos. But if you’re holding AE like it’s a long-term investment? It’s pretty much the same as drafting Kyle Pitts in the first round of your fantasy league… it feels exciting in the moment, but odds are it ends in pure disappointment.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Meta and Disney as mentioned in the article.